In rapper and marijuana enthusiast Snoop Dogg’s latest music video, a character named “Ronald Klump” gets “shot” with a prank gun. And with his long, bright red tie and orange makeup, there’s no mistaking who Klump is a stand-in for.

Released Sunday, the video for “Lavender,” a song about police brutality among other issues, is rife with political commentary. Every character in the multi-plot narrative is a “clown,” sporting the exaggerated white face and red lips of a circus performer. It opens with actor Michael Rapaport playing a put-upon, weed-smoking suburban dad who gets pulled over by the clown police. There’s a misunderstanding, an officer pulls a gun, there’s a bystander with a smartphone and, eventually, a spray of glitter “blood.”

As the cartoonish sugarcoating of a familiar gory scene plays out, Snoop raps, “Trying to keep from dying in these muthaf—ing streets. F— the police from a black man’s point of view.”

Later there’s a “Clown House report” on the news. President Klump “wants to deport all doggs” (a clear reference to the Trump administration’s travel ban). Soon after, Snoop catches up with Klump and shoots him with a toy gun that replaces bullets with the word “bang.”

The 45-year-old rapper told Billboard that he wanted to make “a song that was not controversial but real — real to the voice of the people who don’t have a voice.”

“It’s a lot of clown s— going on that we could just sit and talk on the phone all day about,” continued Snoop, who in the summer led a Los Angeles march urging for better relations between the police and minority communities, “but it’s a few issues that we really wanted to lock into like police, the president and just life in general.”

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About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles.
Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures.
A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.

34 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread | Snoop Dogg ‘shoots’ ‘Ronald Klump’ in new video about police brutality and the travel ban

……………………Sometimes it takes an outsider to make sense of American life. com/2017/03/14/paul-ryan-wants-to-make-you-less-free/” rel=”nofollow”>Paul Ryan Wants to Make You Less Free
The government safety net promotes individual liberty.

The conservative charge to repeal Obamacare is in trouble. House Speaker Paul Ryan has tried to rally the troops by reminding them of the Big Government tyranny of Obamacare. “Freedom is the ability to buy what you want to fit what you need,” Ryan recently tweeted. “Obamacare is Washington telling you what to buy regardless of your needs.”

This is familiar terrain for Ryan. He has warned that the safety net creates a “hammock” of dependency, sapping people of their initiative and autonomy. Barack Obama’s center-left agenda, Ryan argued in 2012, “grows government, restricts freedom and liberty, and compromises those values, those Judeo-Christian, Western-civilization values that made us such a great and exceptional nation in the first place.”

That was the right’s critique of the Obama years: that a decent, modern welfare state quashes freedom and is downright un-American. This line of attack has become so familiar, even omnipresent, that it’s worth remembering how utterly it defies history and common sense. A decent government safety net that guarantees healthcare, guards against poverty, expands access to education, and aids families is far from a menace to individual freedom. In fact, it’s the opposite: for most Americans, personal liberty and individual opportunity are impossible without the safety net.

……………………

Sometimes it takes an outsider to make sense of American life. Anu Partanen came to live and work in the U.S. as a journalist in 2008 after growing up in Finland. She was surprised to find that the lives of her American colleagues were wrenched by anxiety and dependency. Government simply wasn’t stepping up to meet people’s basic needs. This left many Americans she met highly constrained in their day-to-day lives, and far removed from meaningful freedom.

Partanen wrote about her experience in her 2016 book The Nordic Theory of Everything. In Finland, she had access to a welfare state that provided universal healthcare, extended paid family leave, affordable childcare, and free (and excellent) education from kindergarten through graduate school. Nordic societies—and their public policies—are structured around promoting “a single predominant goal,” Partanen explains: “[I]ndependence, freedom, and opportunity for every member of society.”

… For a fee, Corey Lewandowski, President Trump’s pugilistic former campaign manager, and Barry Bennett, a former Trump senior adviser, will protect you from “tweet risk” — what happens to the stock price and reputation of your company when the president tells his 26 million Twitter followers that you’re killing factory jobs or refusing to sell Ivanka Trump handbags.

“If he’s gonna come after you, there’s nothing we can do to stop it,” Mr. Bennett said of Avenue Strategies, the firm he and Mr. Lewandowski opened in offices overlooking Mr. Trump’s White House bedroom window. “But if you want to figure out how to win in this environment, we can help you.

“We’re your sherpa through turbulent times.”…

So far, the administration “hasn’t done much beyond “a few executive orders,” Mr. Bennett says. So he and Mr. Lewandowski are pressing American companies to “call Jared Kushner and tell him you’re gonna build a new factory,” or invite Mr. Trump to “fly somewhere, cut a ribbon, and high-five 200 employees.”…

Avenue Strategies opened on Dec. 21, the day after Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump’s senior counselor, said, “Draining the swamp is not just about lobbying and politicians. It’s also about consultants.” Since then, Trump-related advisers, lawyers, or former campaign hands have opened or joined a host of lobbying and consulting businesses.

The two men say they’re not swamp creatures, because they are not just helping their clients; they are helping Mr. Trump. The firm even operates a fledgling super PAC to help Mr. Trump win re-election. Fired from the campaign and denied a plum job in the administration, Mr. Lewandowski still reveres Mr. Trump and glides past his rival Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, to visit Mr. Trump in the Oval Office. Mr. Lewandowski, who declined to be interviewed, has called any suggestion that he’s cashing in “absolutely disgusting.”…

The Avenue Strategies partners met two decades ago in Ohio: Mr. Lewandowski worked for Representative Bob Ney, and Mr. Bennett for Representative Frank Cremeans. (Mr. Ney was jailed in 2007 on federal corruption charges for his role in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.) Avenue Strategies’ clients often insist on nondisclosure agreements, but Mr. Bennett says most are “Fortune 100 companies.” Two that he can name are both from Ohio: Scott’s Miracle Gro and Community Choice Financial, a payday lender. Their firm is also finalizing a deal to represent the governor of debt-plagued Puerto Rico in talks with its Wall Street creditors…

* White House: “Following MSNBC’s report over questions about whether President Donald Trump has donated his paycheck, Press Secretary Sean Spicer asserted during a White House briefing Monday, ‘the president’s intention right now is to donate his salary at the end of the year.

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